A sea chest is generally known as a rectangular or cylindrical recess in the hull of a ship. The sea chest provides an intake reservoir from which a ducted system draws raw water. The recess may be covered by a grate to aid in water filtration and is in fluid communication with the ducted system. These assemblies are used to collect water needed for engine cooling, however, other applications to the technology do exist.
Current sea chests generally have a single large opening through a bottom surface for drawing in water and one or more inlet openings through an opposing top surface in fluid communication with any number of water pumps. Their effectiveness depends on the size and volume of the water that can flow through the ducting to effectively provide an influx of water through the system. This may be impeded by debris present in the water such as vegetation, garbage, or marine organisms. To combat infestation, a grate is generally employed over the aperture of the sea chest to selectively permit the ingress and egress of substances.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,350,598 to Frederick A. Faville relates to marine type power plants, and includes among its objects and advantages an increase in adaptability to different conditions of service; and throughout the range of service condition, an increased protection of the cooling system from strains and stresses, particularly those due to thermal expansion and contraction. Though the patent to Faville does disclose higher seawater velocities which may increase turbulence and minimize fouling in the cooling tubes, it fails to disclose both a design having a varying volume of recirculated water which allows for a constant inlet temperature or multiple sea chests with backwashing capabilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,087 to Samuel Barran Tafoya discloses a sea chest that can provide a large volume of water substantially without drag or cavitation for cooling the inboard engines of a marine vessel. The keyhole shape through the bottom surface of the sea chest is critical to its function and causes eddies to form at its outside edges, as well as water to flow into the sea chest at the center of these edges. The present invention sea chest also has an orifice through which a quick burst of air or water can be sent to clean debris clogs and eliminate the need for manual cleaning. The present invention size and mounting location are determined by its application. Although not limited to it, use of the present invention is contemplated for large and high-speed marine vessels. However, the present invention can also provide benefit to small marine vessels, including those as small in length as twenty feet. The Tafoya patent discloses a sea chest with an orifice through which a burst of air or water may be sent to clean debris, it fails to disclose a design incorporating parallel inlet ducts.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2014/0291261 to David Kan Yee and assigned to Eaton Corporation discloses a fluid filtering system with backwashing, particularly for ballast tanks, employing a pump with its inlet connected to receive fluid which is filtered and the outlet of the pump to a unified filtering vessel with apparatus for sequentially backwashing individual filter media elements and connecting the backwash to a drain. The unified filtering vessel has a filtrate outlet connected through a valve for filtering flow to and from ballast tanks. The filtrate outlet is also connected through another valve to the inlet of the pump for including clean filtrate in the backwashing. The Eaton Patent fails to disclose parallel inlet ducts and is utilized for ballast tanks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,451 to Joseph Pastore discloses a sea chest cover for providing access to the sea chest of a ship. The sea chest cover is fabricated essentially entirely of one or more viscoelastic materials, preferably either polyethylene or polyurethane. Fabrication of the sea chest cover from a viscoelastic material reduces or eliminates corrosion and erosion problems. It also minimizes marine organism and ice build-up. The result is a reduction in the expense associated with maintaining such covers. The fabrication of the sea chest cover also minimizes the weight of such components, thereby making handling and maintenance easier. The sea chest cover is either pre-formed to a shape conforming with the shape of the ship's hull in the area where the sea chest is located, or it is sufficiently flexible to be placed into such conformance. The sea chest cover of the present invention may be formed as a unitary piece or as a plurality of removably connectable parts.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2014/0042062 to Matthew DaCosta et al. and assign to Trojan Technologies discloses a fluid treatment system that is particularly well suited for treating ballast water on a shipping vessel. The present fluid treatment system is characterized by having two general modes of operation. A so-called ballasting mode and a so-called deballasting mode.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2011/0108483 to Povl Kaas discloses a filter unit for purification of impure water, which could be seawater intended for ballast water, pool water, wastewater, or the like. The purification is performed by means of filter modules comprising filter means with dead end filter elements of a sintered material, and the filter unit facilitates alternating backwashing of the filter means at the same time as the filter unit may perform filtration of the impure water. The invention likewise relates to use of a dead-end filter element in a de-gassing version, the filter element comprising a top end, a bottom end and a plurality of substantially parallel arranged channels with blockings in different ends.
It can be seen that advances in the arts surrounding sea chest technologies is warranted. One such advance is described herein.